Santa Cruz, CA’s tech-death masters, Decrepit Birth, will release their first album in seven years, Axis Mundi, on July 21st via Nuclear Blast Records (North America) and Agonia Records (Europe). The band discuss producing and mixing their fourth studio album in the video below:

Recorded at three different studios over the course of a year, Axis Mundi sounds incredible. The clarity, the power, the musicianship, and the brutality aren’t vying for attention. They’re in absolute harmony. The guitars - tracked by guitarist Matt Sotelo at his home studio - are razor sharp yet spine-snappingly heavy. The drums - tracked by Ryan Forsyth at Private Ear Studios in Winnipeg, Canada - are genre-defining, recalling what Sean Reinert, Gene Hoglan, and Steve Flynn did for Death and Atheist, respectively. And the bass - tracked by bassist Sean Martinez, also at his home studio - has a great deep-end against the ceaselessly wicked rhythms. Tracks like “Hieroglyphic”, “Spirit Guide”, and “The Sacred Geometry” wouldn’t have crushed skulls and blown minds if it wasn’t for the accomplished mixing and mastering of Stefano Morabito at 16th Cellar Studios.

The cover artwork was created by Dan Seagrave (Entombed, Suffocation).

Axis Mundi tracklisting:

“Vortex of Infinity - Axis Mundi”  
“Spirit Guide”       
“The Sacred Geometry”   
“Hieroglyphic”      
“Transcendental Paradox”              
“Mirror of Humanity”        
“Ascendant”         
“Epigenetic Triplicity”        
“Embryogenesis”

“Epigenetic Triplicity”:

Fans can pre-order the Axis Mundi in various formats and bundles at this location.

For the better part of their 16-year existence, California-based death metallers Decrepit Birth haven’t followed the rules. From debut album, 2003’s …And Time Begins, to new album, Axis Mundi, they’ve shuffled the tried and true tenets of death metal into something defiantly other. Certainly, the Surf City denizens have written and continue to write brutally brutal music, but after years of purveying labyrinthine riffs and blasts at light-suffering speeds, they’ve transcended, they’ve transformed, they’ve gone beyond. Decrepit Birth in 2017 aren’t entirely the same band that unfurled …And Time Begins in their twentysomethings.

Seven long years separate Polarity from Axis Mundi. The absence would kill the fan velocity of most bands. But not Decrepit Birth. Even after 2014’s The Summer Slaughter Tour - the last time the West Coasters were on tour - the group’s legion of freaks have stayed true to their death metal masters, pleading and pining with regularity on social media for new technically-proficient savagery. That wait will soon be over with Axis Mundi.

Decrepit Birth is:

Matt Sotelo (guitar)
Bill Robinson (vocals)
Samus Paulicelli (drums)
Sean Martinez (bass)